are midi files "illegal"

well, midis are data files, and i dont think it should be copyrighted or anything... anybody who knows how to sequence can make a midi... mp3's are different, because it came from a copyrighted cd/track... but midi's dont come from any copyrighted material... i dont know... now im confused! hahahaha!

Midi's should never be illegal... There is NO WAY the artist are making any loss out of them. It would be really pathetic to claim that people who got the midi file of a song suddenly didn't want to buy the CD anymore.:assskake:

midi files of already existing songs are indeed illegal, this is because it is a recreation of the writers work and could be remixed and released without the original writer seeing a penny of any profits made on the track.
if you wrote a song and it didnt do to well in sales or airplay, and someone made a midi of it and distibuted it, then someone from that midi remixed your track and it did well in sales and airplay and you didnt even know about it and didnt see any money for it, you would be gutted, i know i would be

From what I remember in 'music law class' in college (taught by a copyright lawyer/musician), when you write a song, it's yours and copyrighted and you can pay to have it registered with the Lib. of Congress as a 'legal copyright' ... if someone does an 'arrangement' of your song, they have to pay for a 'license' to arrange that song; however, their 'arrangement' is an original work as it is an original and a different interpretation of the original song and copyrightable in itself-- midi files, as I understand it, are considered 'electronic representation of an arrangement' and can be copyrighted as an original interpretation of the song, as long as it's not more than 40 percent of another person's midi file or 'arrangement' ...

of course, as with all legal subjects, there is much more about it; i.e., mechanical licenses, sound recordings, on paper vs. electronic representation of arrangements, etc.

Originally posted by saxsinger From what I remember in 'music law class' in college (taught by a copyright lawyer/musician), when you write a song, it's yours and copyrighted and you can pay to have it registered with the Lib. of Congress as a 'legal copyright' ... if someone does an 'arrangement' of your song, they have to pay for a 'license' to arrange that song; however, their 'arrangement' is an original work as it is an original and a different interpretation of the original song and copyrightable in itself-- midi files, as I understand it, are considered 'electronic representation of an arrangement' and can be copyrighted as an original interpretation of the song, as long as it's not more than 40 percent of another person's midi file or 'arrangement' ...

of course, as with all legal subjects, there is much more about it; i.e., mechanical licenses, sound recordings, on paper vs. electronic representation of arrangements, etc.

hope this helps a little

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Excellent answer, Saxsinger! I knew almost none of that.

As "arrangers" of original works ourselves, it's nice to have that to keep in mind...